Yeah, we have had the same problem. I guess it was intentional from the designer.

Owl

Yeah, we have had the same problem. I guess it was intentional from the designer.

Owl

If I remember correctly, I haven't played in 7 or 8 years, the gentle bend city is the key (along with three 2-trains) for the Wellend to earn obscene amounts of money early in the game. Either use them up before the Wellend operates in its second operating round to keep it in check, or buy into the Wellend and get a piece of the action.

Check the abilities of certain private companies and you'll see why the tiles have this particular limit. The Welland comment above is only one of them.

The Niagara Escapment that splits the board in the middle is more important (ie. get a route across) because of the tile limit described.

Tile limits are a key part of the game design. Remember they represent land purchase or grants not the iron rails.

Regardless, I recommend the variant. Most players I play with find KEY tile shortages annoying, and the point of any game is enjoying the game so my group will always add the tiles listed above in the variant.

Not including these tiles allows a nice backstab play for those experienced players who like to obscure the tile shortage fact from less experienced players and then spring it on them for an advantage move, pretending to be the clever one....and these types of players would NEVER highlight the shortage fact ahead of time, even to newbees, at the expense of losing them from ever playing 18XX again. You know the types.

Of course, such experienced players would also probably not want to play with this variant - and the newbies would have little reason to suggest it, not yet being aware of the tile shortage possibility!